The Austin Youth Educator & Counselor will participate, plan, and promote activities in Austin that will increase visibility around the issue of sexual violence. With a focus on children and youth, the Austin Youth Educator & Counselor will develop roots on the Westside and engage with schools to provide rape crisis services to young people. This position will have three major goals: community outreach, individual/group counseling, and prevention education. Austin has become a lively Chicago neighborhood when it comes to community activism. The Austin Youth Educator & Counselor will create youth based events (e.g. art-making workshop), provide education to the youth and parents on sexual assault prevention and intervention, and personally counsel any youth that make a disclosure of sexual violence. The Austin Youth Educator & Counselor position will increase community visibility, increase violence prevention efforts, and increase supportive healing services for survivors.

This position will receive clinical supervision through the Director of Counseling Services and task supervision from the Director of Education and Training. This position requires masters-level education in the field of counseling or social work as well a strong background in working with children/youth.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Provide prevention education to area primary, middle and high schools (public and private), youth-serving agencies.

Provide individual counseling, family counseling, and support groups for children and adolescents ages 5-16 and their family members.

Maintain a caseload of counseling clients appropriate to level of employment and program needs.

Assess/screen individuals to determine appropriate level of intervention and services.

Develop and maintain network of community members and service providers on Westside.

Conduct community outreach, identifying and participating in community events, forums, and meetings as necessary to maintain the agency’s awareness of issues impacting residents and the visibility of the agency’s services.

Provide prevention education to priority communities such as faith, LGBTQ, and Austin community areas.

Provide school-based counseling services.

Conduct institutional advocacy/outreach to area primary, middle and high schools (public and private), youth serving agencies and other priority communities.

Work with the Director of Education & Training to update and enhance RVA’s specialized curricula for youth prevention education.

Ensure participants or clients evaluate the quality of prevention education/professional training programming as well as counseling services. Regularly evaluate feedback from participants.

Collaborate with staff and interns from the Education & Training, Advocacy, and Counseling departments in order to enhance the effectiveness of the agency’s services.

Attend all required agency staff/supervision meetings and participate in staff development activities.

Completion of a minimum of 40-hours of sexual assault training within two months of hire is required; previous completion of the training is strongly preferred

Previous work experience with sexual assault prevention, providing training, and working with youth/adolescents is strongly preferred.

Persons of color and LGBTQ persons are encouraged to apply. RVA is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, age, sex, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, sexual orientation, or disability in its procedures and policies.

Please note that resumes received without cover letters will not be considered.

Rape Victim Advocates (RVA) has been providing crisis intervention for sexual assault victims since 1974 in Chicago. RVA was founded by Natalie Stephens MD., an OB/GYN at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and 10 medical and nursing students and other staff. They had witnessed too many victims leaving the emergency room in an emotionally worsened state than when they arrived, and they set out to prov...ide victims with the support necessary to start recovering. Decades later, RVA remains true to its founding principles and the following mission statement:
Rape Victim Advocates (RVA) is an independent, not-for-profit organization dedicated to the healing and empowerment of sexual assault survivors through non-judgmental crisis intervention counseling, individual and group counseling, and medical and legal advocacy in the greater Chicago metropolitan area. RVA provides public education and institutional advocacy in order to improve the treatment of sexual assault survivors and to effect positive change in policies and public attitudes toward sexual assault.
For 12 years, RVA was run entirely by volunteers. In 1986, the agency hired its first executive director. Volunteers remain key to RVA's ability to offer quality, 24-hour services. At present, more than 200 volunteer advocates provide 24-hour crisis intervention in 14 Chicago area hospitals, including the area’s 5 trauma centers. RVA volunteers donate over 20,000 hours to the agency each year.
RVA currently employs 18 staff at our three community-based offices and our main office downtown. RVA staff further provides counseling services to more than 250 individuals each year, and prevention education to more than 4,500 individuals, 3,600 of which are between the ages of 11-20. Over 90% of RVA’s clients are women and girls.
RVA recognizes the diversity of Chicago and is committed to being accessible for services, employment and volunteer opportunities to all regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, physical/mental ability and economic status.
Delivery of these services makes RVA one of the most comprehensive crisis intervention programs for rape victims in Chicago, and the only rape crisis center in Chicago that is a full-service agency with the single focus of sexual violence. RVA will serve anyone -- at no cost to the victim -- who seeks treatment for sexual assault at one of our hospitals. And RVA's advocacy efforts do not stop at the individual level; the experience and information gained from providing direct services informs and strengthens our participation in institutional change.